"We are trying to get through to our government officials some conception of what they are doing to us.
When, as happens in case after case, a man who has lived for years an honorable, honest, productive, useful life, respected and properly so by those around him, relied upon, given responsibilities and trusts which he has consistently shouldered and met—when such a man is suddenly called irresponsible, untrustworthy, unstable, reckless, poor judgment and the like, has his integrity impugned, all because in his most personal private life he is unconventional—when this happens, he is justifiably outraged, at the very least. When we ask the Defense Department for the connection between his harmless acts and this assault upon his honor, his reputation, his record, all that he is, we get mealy-mouthed rationalizations and evasions which say nothing.
We have our sensitivities. We have our feelings. We are human beings. You walk roughshod over those feelings and sensitivities, with hobnailed boots, as if we were somehow less than human—which is, of course, precisely the way all too many of you think of us. And so we are very intentionally needling, goading, prodding, in an effort to get through to you and make you realize the wrongs which you are perpetuating upon us, in the hope that you will realize what you are doing.
You callously destroy people, needlessly, and then forget about them," – gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, defending a homosexual’s right to get a security clearance from the Pentagon, August 19, 1969.
I love and revere Frank’s candor and conviction. It is contagious. And soon we will end this pernicious and irrational persecution of gay servicemembers once and for all.
The Dish 